It has been a lot of fun...

There will be no discussions of Momoyama art today because I have too much to do. But please let me know if you are very interested, I can provide a list of readings for you…

To my own astonishment, I am less than 10 days a way from surviving my first semester in Japanese class. Quite an accomplishment in my opinion. It has been, without a doubt, the most challenging and time-consuming class that I have ever taken (and I was a mechanical engineering major!).

I am well aware that I am not gifted at all when it comes to languages (just ask my French teachers at Stanford). But I think learning Japanese is a lot like learning snowboarding—it’s very difficult at the beginning, but once you pass that threshold of a total beginner, you get used to it and progress well. In other words, I am not getting as many face-plants as I used to…

To my Senseis, TAs and classmates, it has been a pleasure knowing and learning from you all. Happy Holidays! See you next year!

Hasegawa Tohaku 長谷川とうはく

Before we talk about Hasegawa Tohaku today, いいお好み焼きの レストランは どこですか。Please let me know if you know one (or more). This information will be much appreciated.

This Tohaku work is a fusuma painting titled “Maple Tree.” Originally it was created for Shounji , a temple built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi for the salvation of his three-year-old son Tsurumatsu. Following the fall of Hideyoshi’s faction in 1615, the temple was destroyed and the surviving paintings were installed in the Shingon temple of Chishakuin, where they were cut down to fit the smaller dimensions of fusuma there. Considered masterworks of Tohaku’s blue-and gold style, a single maple tree is depicted over four panels with its leaves beginning to turn color. The branches reach downward in an un-naturalistic fashion, as tension is created between the massive trunk and the delicate leaves.